GreatBlue Contributes to Coastal SEES Research Study Focus Groups

From our office in Cromwell, Connecticut, GreatBlue successfully recruited for 9 focus groups held in three different coastal states for this environmental research study.

June 2017 Florida Center for Environmental studies, FAU:

In May, Dr. Polsky and Research Assistants Jeanie Buck, Vince Edwards, and Alyssa Wood visited the Plum Island Ecosystems LTER site in Massachusetts. They explored the Massachusetts Parker River Refuge, local salt marsh sites, and the Newburyport Maritime Museum to understand the local community.

Three successful focus group discussions, co-moderated with Clark University, gathered information on how local residents value marsh ecosystem services.

Subsequent trips in June to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and to central Coastal Georgia collected similar data, with another FAU Research Assistant, Hallee Meltzer. One of these students, Alyssa, is also conducting stakeholder interviews in the Georgia research area for her master’s thesis to compare results between interviews and focus groups. The end product of this research will be participatory planning charettes held in each location to plan for adaptation in the communities considering sea-level rise and what the residents find important or valuable. Additionally, this information will be utilized in an econometric model to further assess the monetary value of these marshes and further the field of economic valuation of these types of ecosystems.